Trucks At Bonneville Speedway - Salty Dogs

Bonneville—it’s holy ground for us. If you’re a hot rodder, Bonneville Speedway’s history is a deep part of our culture, and a pilgrimage there should be on your To-Do list, whether you’re a participant or a spectator. While it’s usually associated with cars, and even motorcycles, if you’re a truck enthusiast, there’s plenty of eye-candy to be had both in the pits and in the spectator areas.

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Classes at Bonneville are based on two criteria: the body (with sub-categories for modified or production bodies), and the engine class. The Pickup Truck class is for ’46 and later American-made trucks, while Mid/Mini Pickup Truck is for America and foreign mid/mini-sized trucks ’72 and newer. Engine classes allowed in the Pickup class are 184ci to 501ci and larger (E-class through AA-class), and four vintage engine classes covering flatheads and inline sixes. Also, included is the Mid/Mini class 46ci through 372.99ci (I-class through C-class). They are further divided into blown and un-blown classes, the “blown” covering both turbo and superchargers. There are also diesel truck categories for everything from highway haulers to 1-ton pickups.

The Southern California Timing Association’s rulebook is anything but easy to read—you’ll wear it out trying to understand what’s allowed in which classes, but it’s fun reading nonetheless. But be advised, if you think you’re going to just go out there with your truck and “see what it’ll do,” think again. Your truck will fall into one of the Engine/Body classes, and not only must your truck comply with the generic competition vehicle safety rules all vehicles must adhere to, but it must be built to comply with the safety requirements for the record in your class. In other words, if the class your truck would fit in has an existing record of 210mph, you need the full roll cage, seat, window nets, parachute, roof rails, fire bottle system, and everything else you’d need to run that speed; your truck must be built as though it was going to go after the record, not a one-time wind-out.

But don’t let that stop you from making the pilgrimage to the Great White Wonderland that’s the Bonneville Salt Flats. You can drive there from just about anywhere in the country in two or three days, so it’s really not as far as most people think—load the bed up with supplies and hit the road. Hang out for a few days feeling the salt crunch under your feet and the sound of raw, unadulterated horsepower from every imaginable kind of engine you can imagine, then head home and start making plans for next year. Because once you’ve been on the salt, you’ll be back. ct